Review Summary

Mobsters can’t help themselves. It’s in their nature to solve problems the family way — with baseball bats, explosives and anything at hand that leaves an opponent dead or writhing in agony. So says Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro), a mobster in hiding, when explaining his pathological behavior in Luc Besson’s dark action comedy “The Family.” The role of Giovanni could have been a walk-through for Mr. De Niro, whose character, given his new identity, calls himself a writer and begins typing his memoirs. But Mr. De Niro gives a surprisingly nuanced performance of a monster offering a long list of bogus reasons to excuse his evil. — Stephen Holden